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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg is planning to make his second visit to China
as the world's No. 1 social networking company looks for the
best way to expand into that country.

"Our company mission is really clear, which is we want to
connect the whole world," said Facebook Chief Operating Officer
Sheryl Sandberg at the Reuters Global Technology Summit on
Thursday. "And it's impossible to think about connecting the
whole world right now without also connecting China."

China, the world's largest Internet market by users,
represents an attractive frontier for Facebook, which is
blocked there. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited China in
December and met with the heads of Chinese Internet companies
including Baidu Inc (BIDU.O), Sina Corp and Alibaba Corp.

But China, where the government exercises tight control
over online information, has proven hard to crack for Western
Internet companies. Last year Google Inc (GOOG.O) partially
withdrew from China following a spat over online censorship and
cyber attacks that Google said originated in China.

"Despite what you may have read, Mark and I actually really
agree on the importance of China," Sandberg said.

Sandberg said the timing and the agenda of Zuckerberg's
return trip to China was undetermined, but that the 27-year-old
Facebook co-founder, who is studying Chinese, would probably
return this year.

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